Category: Fairfield

Fairfield 76, Marist 73: Tough Loss For Maker And Red Foxes

(photo courtesy: Marist Athletics)

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. – Feeling sorry for Division I head basketball coaches can be a bit overrated, they are fairly well compensated, and although most have worked extremely hard to get near the top of their chosen profession (and now hold a position that thousands of other coaches would love to hold), they are at the end of the day dealing with a game on a daily basis.

(And, yes, I understand the pressures involved, that losing too many of those basketball games could find you unemployed eventually, but still).

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Fairfield 80, Manhattan 70: Stags Do The Simple Things To Roll

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. – Fairfield’s two leading scorers (and only two averaging double digits) – Marcus Gilbert and Tyler Nelson – combined for just two points (both Nelson’s), the Stags committed 13 turnovers, and … had a 16-point lead at the half over Manhattan Sunday afternoon?

Manhattan battled back from there, but was never quite able to get over the proverbial hump, falling for the 10th straight trip to Webster Bank Arena, 80-70.

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Fairfield 98, Iona 91: A Little Redemption For Marcus Gilbert

(photo courtesy: Fairfield athletics)

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. – It’s hard to call Marcus Gilbert unknown, especially in the MAAC, where he was a preseason first-team selection after all.

Maybe underappreciated might be a little closer to the target. Gilbert finished fifth in the MAAC with 16.1 points per game last season, and was praised by opposing coaches for his outstanding ability after almost every game, but made only the MAAC third team last March.

The primary reason isn’t hard to deduce, Gilbert’s Fairfield team finished a putrid 7-24, finishing with a lopsided MAAC Tournament loss that saw them score just 33 points. Yes, them, as in the whole team. It was Fairfield’s second straight seven-win season after the Stags went 19-16 in Gilbert’s freshman season, one that saw him on the MAAC All-Rookie Team.

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Saint Peter’s 77, Fairfield 71: Check Your MAAC Radar, Please

FAIRFIELD, Conn. – With Monmouth and Iona doing their thing, Saint Peter’s has been able to glide under the MAAC radar for most of the season. In fact, while Monmouth was beating Notre Dame and USC in Orlando (and scaring Dayton), the Peacocks were losing four straight, including to Lafayette, Hartford, and Fairleigh Dickinson, none of which can be mistaken for a national power.

But, although they haven’t been heard or seen by most, the Saint Peter’s Express has been registering on the MAAC screen. That approaching red dot and accompanying beep you heard Tuesday night was the Peacocks registering another conference win, this one 77-71 at Fairfield’s Alumni Hall. Saint Peter’s is now a game ahead of Iona and tied with Monmouth atop the conference at 6-1, and with a showdown at Jordan Washington-less Iona looming Friday night, the MAAC may have to deal with the Peacocks sooner rather than later.

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Monmouth 86, Fairfield 74: Hawks Show Championship Credentials

Micah Seaborn Monmouth

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. – After a lackluster first-half that saw his team down seven points, Monmouth coach King Rice stormed into the locker room and … calmly discussed what his team had to do better to win the game.

“The thing about this year’s team is when I even get a frowned up face it’s a negative reaction to my kids,” Rice said. “So I have to be a better coach and understand they don’t respond to that at all. When we came into the locker room, it was just, ‘Guys when we got after them defensively, those three-pointers didn’t go in. When you stand two feet off them like we were doing, that team will beat you badly because they’re comfortable.’ We weren’t guarding to our level. No yelling. We just needed to do a better job on defense.”

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Fairfield 101, Bucknell 91: Tough Start For Nathan Davis And Bison

(photo courtesy: Fairfield Athletics)

LEWISBURG, Pa. – It’s never easy for first-year head coaches, but that can be doubly true when trying to step in at a program that’s used to having success.

Nathan Davis has plenty going for him at Bucknell, not the least of which is his tenure as an assistant coach on the most successful Bucknell teams of all-time: the 2004-05 team that upset Kansas (and won an ESPY for doing so), and the squad the following year that went undefeated in the Patriot League (and 28-5 overall), getting a No. 9 seed in the NCAAs and beating Arkansas in the first round.

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Fairfield 74, Rider 70: No Gilbert, No Problem For Stags

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. – There are lies, damned lies, and statistics as Mr. Twain once told us, of course, and, yes, there are times where the numbers (even advanced ones) only give an obstructed view of what is really transpiring.

However, for the disappointing 2015-16 Rider basketball team, it doesn’t take an advanced degree in hyperbolic topology to figure out what the biggest problem is.

Last season, the Broncs were picked seventh in the preseason MAAC poll, and finished alone in second at 15-5. With a break (or one less injury to senior center Matt Lopez), Rider might have been even better and perhaps wouldn’t have been upset by Saint Peter’s in the MAAC quarterfinals.

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Iona 101, Fairfield 77: It’s An A.J. English World

NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. – Things got pretty awkward for A.J. English in the final five minutes of Tuesday’s eventual destruction of Fairfield at the Hynes Center in the MAAC opener for both teams. Reporters and SIDs had finished scrambling furiously through media notes and websites, and knew – as anyone in the stands could likely surmise by the sheer volume of shots English was hitting – they were watching an historic performance. Continue reading “Iona 101, Fairfield 77: It’s An A.J. English World” →

Fairfield 82, Columbia 81 (OT) : Break Up The Runnin’ Stags

Tyler Nelson (photo courtesy: Fairfield Athletics)

FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Kevin Degnan – at 6’8” and mostly a post player – had only seven career three-pointers, but there he was on the wing in front of a Fairfield fast break, picking a low pass off his ankles and drilling a three-pointer anyway. As the intimate crowd roared, Degnan gave a clapping Sydney Johnson a high-five on the way back down the court.

Welcome to the new world order that is Fairfield basketball in the last two weeks. And it claimed another victim Friday afternoon, this time Columbia, 82-81 in overtime, in what has to be considered a mild upset even if it were in the friendly confines of Alumni Gym.

If it were up to Johnson, Fairfield (3-3) would play much more in ancient Alumni Gym, where a holiday crowd of 1,886 made their presence known, with Johnson exhorting them on, almost to midcourt on a couple of big Columbia (3-3) possessions at the end of regulation and the extra session. The Stags will play two more times at Alumni this season, including a MAAC game against Saint Peter’s, but there are no current plans to expand that number.

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